It is conventional practice in existing railroad locomotive brake equipment to control and operate the braking system by varying the amount of air pressure within the brake cylinders. That is, the Westinghouse Air Brake Company locomotive air brake equipment is designed to effectively handle the present day train operations in which air, under pressure, is used for the braking of the locomotives as well as the trailing freight cars or passenger vehicles wherein the equipment on both freight and passenger locomotives is controlled in accordance with accepted application criteria. In the previous types of approved locomotive air brake equipments now in revenue service, the operation and control required to apply and release air from the brake cylinders is currently achieved by pneumatic devices. These previous devices include J-relay air valves, conduit or piping, double check valves, and various other peripheral pneumatic components. When the pneumatic components are combined and connected together, they will determine and control the braking characteristics provided by the locomotive. The required braking characteristic of a given locomotive is dependent upon its type and the manner in which it is used in service. In addition, the brake operating characteristics are determined by the type of relay air valve that is used and how it functions and is configured within the pneumatic system. It will be appreciated that the type of relay air valve installed in the system greatly contributes to the given operating characteristics so that a change will normally require that the entire pneumatic system be redesigned or reconstructed when the original J-relay air valve is replaced by a different type of J-relay air valve. That is, the removal and replacement of the initial type of J-relay air valve not only results in a vast change in the piping, but also normally requires the use of different peripheral components. This dramatic renovation in piping and components is due to the difference in construction between the various types of J-relay air valves. It will be appreciated that it would be highly advantageous and very economical to devise an alternate or substitute electronic control arrangement to attain the braking characteristics of a given railroad locomotive in order to avoid extensive reworking of piping and replacement of components that are now common with a J-relay air valve changeout.